MOHAMMED SHAFI - THE GRAMOPHONE MAN

Numerous lovers of gramophones, old valve radios, record players, records and musical antiques and accessories from all parts of India and abroad, are nowadays looking to this man, Mohammed Shafi, popularly known as Gramophone Shafi and Gramophone Man, for their requirements of these items as well as to service their equipments. For the hobbyists in this field Shafi is one of the very few persons in this part of the country who is able to satisfy their needs which are unique and at the same time varied and person specific.
Mohammed Shafi is basically a dealer in musical antiques who runs a small shop by name ‘Gramophone world’ in the city of Calicut(Kozhikode) in Kerala. Hailing from Kallai adjoining Kozhikode town he had in his younger years worked in several parts of the country like Calcutta, Delhi, Bombay and, being fond of travelling and seeing places, had travelled through the length and breadth of the country as well as the Gulf and has a network of friends and contacts in all these places. Even as a child he was fond of musical equipments like harmonium and record players, clocks, radios and had keen interest in learning how they worked. He continued this interest later also and he was collecting these items during all his travels and life in North India and also acquired a fair knowledge in repairing and servicing them. He later decided that music, musical equipments and antiques will be his field and coupled with his natural desire to come back to his home town, he left his job in Calcutta and returned to Calicut.

By then there was a revival of interest among people for gramophones and record players and for collecting old gramophone records. More and more people were taking this up as a hobby and the only difficulty for them was getting the right equipments and servicing them. It was here that the role of persons like Mohammed Shafi proved important. With his large collection of these items and ability to get more of them through his large network of friends and contacts he created a space for himself in the field. Besides he is one of the very few people who can and is willing to repair gramophones, record players,amplifiers, loud speakers and so on. Apart from a good stock of equipments and records of all speeds for sale he also stocks adequate quantity of spare parts like cartridges, stylus of all varieties, gramophone needles, L.P.records, valves for radios, belts for the players and so on which are in good demand because of their short supply as many of them are presently not in production.In short his shop THE GRAMOPHONE WORLD is a centre of attraction and meeting place for hobbyists from all walks of life. In fact Shafi says that meeting people from various fields, big and small, and interacting with them has been an enriching experience for him. He owns a website http://www.gramophoneworld.com/ and has an email address viz., gramophoneworld@yahoo.com. through which people from several parts of the country contact him and he is able to send them their requirements.
But what makes Shafi different from the normal antique dealer is his love for music and the fact that collection of gramophone records and musical antiques has been his hobby as well. He has with him a big collection of gramophone records from the earliest 16rpm, 78rpm, EPs and LPs covering all genres of Indian music.There are a large number of LPs of Hindustani and Carnatic classical music, ghazals and English albums.The first edition of the record of Vande Mataram, speeches of Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and recorded voice of several national leaders and so on form part of the collection.A variety of gramophones and record players from the earliest like Columbia, Victor, RCA, Deca to the popular HMV and Philips models including those with magnetic cartridges and magnetic coil catridges are also there. Valve radios like Philips( Holland)and their famous stereo radios and the nostalgic Murphy radios are there. The most coveted items are the 19th century metal record playing 'Symphonion’ and the first portable hand wound record player Mikky Phone of the size of a school boy's lunch box when closed.The three arms serving as the turn table, the sound box, the winding lever etc. are removable and can be kept in the compact box when not in use or when transported. A table fan operating on kerosene, like the one seen used by the protagonist in the Malayalam film Salt and Pepper, is a coveted item in his collection.It is a delight to see them still functioning. A still immaculate Philips(Holland)Radiogram with its changer which can hold six records and play them continuously one after the other greeted the visitors of his house and an enthusiastic Shafi explaining its working. The sound quality of the radiogram is amazing. There is also a beautiful Foot Harmonium in very good working condition.A spool tape recorder in a compact wooden box is another attraction.The famous Gipsy gramophone is also there. There are many more invaluable items offering a feast to the eyes and hearts of enthusiasts. Many of these equipments were acquired by him in a state of disrepair and they are in the present working condition only after long painstaking efforts at collecting original spares and reconstructing broken parts. Any other person could have sold them off and earned a fortune as there are several hobbyists who are prepared to pay anything to possess them. But not for Shafi and that is what makes him different.

Mohammed shafi still travels a lot to all parts of the country and his family consisting of wife and two children often accompanies him.

OLD IS STILL GOLDEN - BATTING FOR AUDIO CASSETTES.

Sitting in front of my several old music players and the collection of gramophone records, I used to wonder about the vast changes that has taken place in listening to music since the invention of Phonograph by Edison and, especially for me, since my father purchased a U.M.S. Radio in 1960 and I purchased a Philips transistor radio (VICTOR) in 1970. The hand wound gramophones of Victor, Columbia, HMV and other brands, the common music players of my childhood days, were replaced by the electrically operated record players, mainly of HMV and Philips. The picture of the lovable dog, Nipper by name, peering into the horn of the hand winding gramophone was one of the most familiar( now nostalgic) and famous logo of all time for music lovers. In fact, for many including the not so old, the word gramophone instantly brings this picture in their mind. Many old timers will also remember the small tin container with the needles of the gramophone.

The electrically operated record players like HMV Fiesta (combo) and several other Philips players were followed by Stereo Systems in the early 70s. Stereo players, Amplifiers and speakers were flooding the market for about two decades. Again Philips and HMV were dominating the local markets for players and speakers and Cosmic, Sonodyne, Panatronic, Murphy, Bush etc., for amplifiers. HMV's Super Stereo with separate amplifier and speakers and Philips' Hi-Q International were very popular in those days.

At the beginning of the 70s Compact Cassette players started arriving with brands like Sharp and Bush making them in India. Cassette players of Sony, National Panasonic, Hitachi, Akai were also available in grey markets. Cassette players, became hugely popular with its cost effectiveness and easiness to handle.I first bought a 'Sharp brand' cassette player and was thrilled at the easiness with which I could record songs with it. Later I got a similar National Panasonic set . While this set is still with me in good working condition, I don't know where the 'Sharp' set is at present. At first Indian made Cassette tapes were not available. Cassettes
of Sony, BASF, TDK, Hitachi, Philips etc., were the ones available. But much later Indian Cassette tapes like T-Series, Meltrack, Coney etc also arrived bringing down the cost down. Two-in One sets (Radio with Cassette player) of Sony, Panasonic , Akai etc were also a rage in those days. NRIs arriving with impressive foreign made sets was a common sight and such sets were on proud display in drawing rooms like a status symbol. Radiograms (Radio cum record Player) from HMV, Philips, UMS etc were also available in many drawing rooms. There were even Three-in One sets (Radio, Cassette player, Record player combo set) available. A friend of mine from my school days, Mr. Damodaran to be exact, had purchased such a set in the 70s and we used to listen to it for long hours in those days. A couple of months back, i.e.,after about four decades, he brought it to me in a state of disrepair with major parts missing . It was lying with him all these years uncared for as his efforts to get it repaired were in vain. He told me that he had lost his old radio, HMV radiogram and other musical gadgets which were familiar to me also. Well, the Three-in-one set has now been brought back to good working condition, of course, after a lot of efforts and expenditure. This portable Radiogram is cute and looks like a briefcase when closed.

By the middle of the 90s CD players and CDs arrived in the market in a big way and we have since seen rapid changes in equipments and listening tastes. Big music systems, Home Theatre Systems, DVD players, portable music gadgets like MP3, MP4,Mp5 players and mobile phones with music players have come to stay. USB flash drives and MM/SD Cards loaded with music are also there. Naturally Cassette players have almost vanished from the scene like its forerunner, the record players.

Like some of us who are still nostalgically bound with old valve radios and gramophones, I am sure there will be several music enthusiasts who still love their cassette players and would prefer to listen to music on them and to record their favourite songs from the radio directly on tapes. It is true, tapes may get caught in the pinch rollers, old tapes may produce hissing noise and tapes may get affected by moisture in the air etc. But , to them, the music coming through them will still be heart warming and true. Besides, for recording purposes, the Compact Cassette player is still the easiest. Original casssetts released by HMV,Music India, Music Today, Tharangini etc., offered a store house of authentic information about the song, its composer, lyricist and singer on their inlay cards. Apart from listening to them once in a way, it is precisely for this reason that I preserve my audio cassettes. For the real cassette lovers this is the time to get their old equipments repaired/serviced and kept in good condition as more and more repairers are becoming indifferent to repairing them eventhough spare parts are still available. They will also do well to buy and keep on stock a few blank cassettes before they vanish from the markets.

Well, happy listening with cassete players!!!



P.S.Please click on the photos for details.